iPad Should I buy a 128GB iPad 4 at $549 or wait for 64GB iPad Air at $699

macrumors 6502

There's an open box item at my local future shop. 128GB iPad 4 for $549 normally $799. They said it was bought and returned the next day and nothing wrong with it. So I'm wondering why that much of a drop in price? Is it cause of the Air coming out? Is there that much of a difference in the A7 compared to A6X? I asked them to hold it for me and right now I'm leaning towards getting it rather than the Air. If I was to get the Air it would be the 64GB cause $799 is too much But I'd love to have the extra space that the 4 would come with. But would this new chip in the Air be worth it?

macrumors member

If the difference in weight isn't a big deal to you, definitely get the iPad 4. There's a fair difference between the A6x and the A7, but unless you're using intense apps like GarageBand or Infinity Blade, you'll never notice.

macrumors 6502a

There's an open box item at my local future shop. 128GB iPad 4 for $549 normally $799. They said it was bought and returned the next day and nothing wrong with it. So I'm wondering why that much of a drop in price? Is it cause of the Air coming out? Is there that much of a difference in the A7 compared to A6X? I asked them to hold it for me and right now I'm leaning towards getting it rather than the Air. If I was to get the Air it would be the 64GB cause $799 is too much But I'd love to have the extra space that the 4 would come with. But would this new chip in the Air be worth it?

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That's a toughie! For $799 you can get a MBA refurb! Just a comparison not a recommendation. For what you get in the 4, you will be saving a lot and can use it to get more accessories! What will you be using the ipad for?

macrumors 6502a

I have never done well buying older technology to save money, if your just going to use this for a year and get a new one next year, than Yeah jump on the discounted 4.

But if you are going to keep this longer term, you may be disappointed down the road, the new chip is pretty impressive, weight and size is your choice, but if you hold it a lot or need a case, the weight might come into play.

If you can, and really want it, get the 128gb air, $250 difference between an open box 4 (why is open box, you don't know so that is something to think about) and a brand new iPad air? I would save up and get the 128gb air.

The iPad air will always perform better than a 4 with iOS7, plus you get the m7 which I think is going to really come into play more and more.

Oh and we still don't know the memory size do we? might be more ram in the Air, thats worth waiting to find out.

macrumors 6502a

I have a 128GB iPad 4, with about 75GB of movies and music. It's fine, but is heavy. The movies are almost all large files, and the music is a large jazz library. A 64GB iPad would hold all the music and movies as long as some of the movie files were smaller.

When the rumors of a lighter iPad first appeared, thinner glass was what struck me most. My iPad Mini has very thin glass, and I could see the iPad Air flex quite a bit during Apple's drop video. I wonder how durable the new glass will be compared to the iPad 4, but my Mini held up well until I lost it (typing on my new Mini right now). The Mini's thinner glass almost feels like plastic, and that's something you can try right now at the local store. I didn't like it at first, but got used to it quickly.

An iPad 4 128GB is a very nice tablet, if you don't mind the weight. That's a good price for a tablet that came out in February of this year.....

macrumors 68030

There's an open box item at my local future shop. 128GB iPad 4 for $549 normally $799. They said it was bought and returned the next day and nothing wrong with it. So I'm wondering why that much of a drop in price? Is it cause of the Air coming out? Is there that much of a difference in the A7 compared to A6X? I asked them to hold it for me and right now I'm leaning towards getting it rather than the Air. If I was to get the Air it would be the 64GB cause $799 is too much But I'd love to have the extra space that the 4 would come with. But would this new chip in the Air be worth it?

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If there is a full year warranty on it, and it is still at 6.1.3, then FOR ME it would be a no-brainer... 128GB iPad4 all the way. $250 cheaper AND double the space.

If the iPad4 already has 7.x on it, then give it a pass and go for the Air.

macrumors 6502

While it's true the A7 is more powerful than the A6X, the only time you'd really see that power is with the high res graphics type games on the iPad. I personally don't play any of those so it wouldn't matter to me, the $150 savings would be well worth it.

I bought an open box iPad 3 not long after the iPad 4s came out for a great price and don't regret it a bit!

macrumors 6502

I have a 128GB iPad 4, with about 75GB of movies and music. It's fine, but is heavy. The movies are almost all large files, and the music is a large jazz library. A 64GB iPad would hold all the music and movies as long as some of the movie files were smaller.

When the rumors of a lighter iPad first appeared, thinner glass was what struck me most. My iPad Mini has very thin glass, and I could see the iPad Air flex quite a bit during Apple's drop video. I wonder how durable the new glass will be compared to the iPad 4, but my Mini held up well until I lost it (typing on my new Mini right now). The Mini's thinner glass almost feels like plastic, and that's something you can try right now at the local store. I didn't like it at first, but got used to it quickly.

An iPad 4 128GB is a very nice tablet, if you don't mind the weight. That's a good price for a tablet that came out in February of this year.....

macrumors 6502a

Never buy older tech unless you've been accustomed to doing so in the past and happy doing so. The difference in buying the models is not vast enough to justify buying down a generation. 64GB is more than enough for the iPad Air media content considering the iPad is still considered more of a streaming content device than a hard drive.

However, if you absolutely need every inch of the space of 128, then yes go with the 128. Otherwise, no way you need to downgrade. The weight will make a huge difference, I promise. The iPad 1-4 is nearly unusable for one handed use, I can assume the 1 pound device will make one handed browsing more fluid.

I would say most people on here are tech savvy enough and follow tech news at least semi-regularly, and I think once the newness of your iPad 4 comes down you'll wish you got the newer, slimmer, lighter model instead.

thread startermacrumors 6502

I caved in and bought it There giving me a 30 day window to return it so thats good. My gf is going to get the iPad Air 16GB, so I will be able to compare the two in terms of weight and form factor. As far as the 128GB storage and my usage, I don't really think I need it all. I have iTunes Match so all my music is on the cloud and accessible through my lte/wifi. I guess I'll just be putting TV Shows/Movies on it. I don't think I'll fill up the entire space but I just like knowing I have extra space if I need it and not regretting getting a lower capacity. As far as my main usage for the iPad, it'll prob be like my current ipad 2 being used for streaming sports through apple tv. I don't really play games on the iPad, got the PS4 preorderd for that I guess I just saw the price and reacted. But like I said, they're giving me a 30 day window to return. I thought futureshop was usually 14 days but I guess since its opened its different? I've been using it for a couple of hours now and nothing seems wrong it, basically brand new.

macrumors member

I sold my Ipad 3 with every intention of buying the Ipad Air. I have always upgraded my Iphone and Ipad in the passed. However, when I was looking at the Ipad Air at the apple store, I wasn't quite impressed by the Air compared to the Ipad 4. It still bugs me that apple is comparing the Air to the Ipad 2 instead of the Ipad 4. Yeah I knows, the Ipad Air is a tad faster, lighter ect.. but the Ipad 3 was no snail, let alone an Ipad 4.

After seeing the prices for the Ipad 4 on apple.com, I decided for the first time to go with the an older model (128GB) instead of the the new Ipad Air. I'm happy with my decision.

I just received tracking info from apple that my refurbished Ipad 4 is coming from Shiremoor, Great Britain.

macrumors member

I used to have the iPad 3 and used it mostly for photography. I eventually sold it mainly because it was pretty slow and because I never liked the wide bezel. I always wished for a thinner bezel and more speed so the Air was very intriguing and I have to say it has not disappointed in that regard.

The Air is ridiculously faster than the 3 was. It's so much more fun to import and edit photos! I couldn't recommend it more if you think you will use it for this purpose. It's paradise

That said, I now miss the wider bezel sometimes. When I hand the Air to someone else to view pics I have to be sure that they grab it from the edges or they will change the screen in some fashion or another. Come to think of it, this was still a problem with the 3 - just not as much.

Man, this thing is light and comfortable though.

I guess it just depends on you usage. I don't need 128GB on my tablet. In fact I only have 32GB with LTE to stay connected to the cloud (and Wifi of course). Personally, I would MUCH rather have this new design with it's power/performance, light weight and size over more storage but that's just me.

I am not a fan of the thinner glass touchscreen though. Feels kinda cheap and took some getting used to. The rest of the Air feels high quality.

macrumors 6502a

I caved in and bought it There giving me a 30 day window to return it so thats good. My gf is going to get the iPad Air 16GB, so I will be able to compare the two in terms of weight and form factor. As far as the 128GB storage and my usage, I don't really think I need it all. I have iTunes Match so all my music is on the cloud and accessible through my lte/wifi. I guess I'll just be putting TV Shows/Movies on it. I don't think I'll fill up the entire space but I just like knowing I have extra space if I need it and not regretting getting a lower capacity. As far as my main usage for the iPad, it'll prob be like my current ipad 2 being used for streaming sports through apple tv. I don't really play games on the iPad, got the PS4 preorderd for that I guess I just saw the price and reacted. But like I said, they're giving me a 30 day window to return. I thought futureshop was usually 14 days but I guess since its opened its different? I've been using it for a couple of hours now and nothing seems wrong it, basically brand new.

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I think you'll be very happy with the iPad 4. I have the iPad 4 64GB and recently purchased the Air 64GB. Now that I have an Air with a good screen (after 4 tries) I'll probably let the iPad 4 go but with regret. It is solid, has a perfect screen and since I don't play garage band and infinity blade I really can't appreciate much difference in speed and my 4 works fine with iOS 7. The reason for choosing the Air over my 4 is simply that I prefer the weight and smaller size. My iPad 4 actually has a slightly better screen.

macrumors regular

macrumors 65816

There's an open box item at my local future shop. 128GB iPad 4 for $549 normally $799. They said it was bought and returned the next day and nothing wrong with it. So I'm wondering why that much of a drop in price? Is it cause of the Air coming out? Is there that much of a difference in the A7 compared to A6X? I asked them to hold it for me and right now I'm leaning towards getting it rather than the Air. If I was to get the Air it would be the 64GB cause $799 is too much But I'd love to have the extra space that the 4 would come with. But would this new chip in the Air be worth it?

macrumors member

iPad Air all the way for me. Weight and size alone make the difference in cost worth it. It's incredibly light when you compare it to the previous generation. you could easily hold it with one hand for a long time or read holding it in bed without it falling on your face after while.

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